{"id":227,"date":"2007-10-08T20:42:13","date_gmt":"2007-10-08T20:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html"},"modified":"2007-10-08T20:42:13","modified_gmt":"2007-10-08T20:42:13","slug":"preach-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Preach it"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re talking evangelization and preaching, so here are a few good examples for your edification of priests doing great preaching and making the fruits of their labors available on the Web:
\n
\nFr. Robert Barron of the Archdiocese of Chicago.<\/a>
\nFr. Phillip Powell, OP, currently at the U. of Dallas:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Go and do likewise. <\/span>Let me say out loud what I would be willing to bet most of us are thinking: <\/span>\u201cI\u2019m not doing that.\u201d <\/span>Maybe you aren\u2019t being that blunt. <\/span>Maybe you\u2019re just worried about how difficult a thing it would be to imitate the Samaritan. <\/span>Or maybe you trying to work it out in our head how you could do what he did without actually getting too involved with the victim himself. <\/span>I\u2019m willing to bet that some of you are thinking these things b\/c every time I read this gospel I think, \u201cI don\u2019t have the time, the money, or the patience to get that involved with someone I don\u2019t even know! And my eternal life depends on this?\u201d <\/span>I immediately start to think of ways to turn the story into something other than a direct order to serve those most in need. <\/span>For example, this is some sort of vague tale of angels coming to help men\u2014one of those Feel Good moments when we have to hope on the goodness of the supernatural b\/c we can\u2019t trust the natural. <\/span>But, no matter how hard I try, how hard you try, the story remains\u2026as is.<\/p>\n

And I wonder why Jesus tells the story. <\/span>Of course, he\u2019s instructing the scholar of the law who is worried\u2014as lawyers often are\u2014about his own liability under the Law of Love. <\/span><\/span>The scholar has the philosophy of mercy exactly right. <\/span>Jesus says, \u201cYou have answered correctly\u2026\u201d The more difficult moment, however, comes when he says, \u201c\u2026do this and you will live.\u201d <\/span>Be merciful and you will have eternal life. <\/span>Jesus tells this story of compassion b\/c he dies on the cross for us all. <\/span>Everyone. <\/span>Without a single exception. <\/span>And he means for us to understand that it is not enough for us to \u201cget\u201d the theology right, to grasp the philosophy correctly. <\/span>Our merciful intent is a ghost in the brain if it will not animate our hands and hearts. <\/span>Think: <\/span>what if Jesus had merely thought about suffering and dying for us. <\/span>Mused on the idea of saving us. <\/span>Sat safely under the shade of a fig tree and contemplated the wisdom of offering himself as a victim for our sins. <\/span>Would we have the Holy Spirit kicking us in the rear, thumping us on the head to go and do likewise? <\/span>Maybe. <\/span>But what difference would it make? <\/span>In fact, how exactly would we be any different than the priest and Levite who see the beaten man and cross the road to avoid him? <\/span>Caring compassionately for your neighbor is not an abstraction. <\/span>It is a matter of our salvation. <\/span>How perfectly inconvenient! <\/span>What a huge nuance.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we do not have to decide to be merciful all alone. <\/span>When Jesus says, \u201cGo and do likewise,\u201d he is also saying, \u201cI am with you always.\u201d <\/span>When he says, \u201cBe merciful and you will live,\u201d he is also saying, \u201cYou know what mercy looks like b\/c I have been merciful to you.\u201d <\/span>Indeed, he has rescued us from the pit and now we are freer than ever to help him rescue others. <\/span>If we have a job description as Christians, it is this: <\/span>out of the love Christ has shown us, we must love and be merciful. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is a truly inconvenient truth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And then, someone new to me, even though I actually met him over a year ago.<\/p>\n

Last week, I was driving around, as I am wont to do, and flicked on Catholic radio. A male voice was speaking – informally, but confidently. Teaching some good stuff. I had no idea who it was. I went home and looked up the schedule and found it was Fr. John Riccardo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I spoke in Fr. Riccardo’s parish in Troy in spring of ’06, during the great DVC Flood, and met him briefly. I’d also heard him briefly interviewed on Teresa Tomeo’s show a couple of times. He’s now in Plymouth, Michigan,\u00a0 (most recent bulletin – pdf file<\/a>. Big, big parish!) and this page contains links to various fruits: articles, podcasts, texts of homilies. <\/a>I know that Fr. Riccardo has also done a lot of good work with local evangelical pastors.\u00a0 I highly <\/em>recommend a listen if you can.<\/p>\n

Oh, and then there’s this fellow, via Sandro Magister:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The words that Benedict XVI speaks every Sunday at midday, before and after the Angelus \u2013 the “Regina Coeli” during the Easter season \u2013 are among those most closely followed by the media.
\nBut the media almost always reproduce only those words of the pope that pertain to situations or events in the news, especially when these are political.
\nFor example, on Sunday, September 30, it was Burma, the two Koreas, and sub-Saharan Africa. The Sunday before that, it was his views on capitalism and the “logic of profit.” And the Sunday before that, the Montreal protocol on the hole in the ozone layer…
\nWhat the media say and write gives listeners and readers the impression that the pope dedicated his entire message to the topic cited.
\nBut that’s not the case. It is almost always during the greetings in various languages, which he extends to the faithful after the praying of the Angelus, that Benedict XVI dedicates to current issues just a few brief remarks that are then emphasized by the media.
\nThe real and proper message comes before the prayer. And it is \u2013 with rare exceptions \u2013 a brief homily on the Gospel and the other readings of that day’s Mass.
\nThis little homily is most of what is heard by the great numbers of faithful who come to each Sunday noontime encounter with the pope, at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome and at Castel Gandolfo in the summer.
\nThese are texts unmistakably conceived and written by pope Joseph Ratzinger. In some cases, it is easy to note similarities with his book “Jesus of Nazareth,” in the places where he discusses the same passage from the Gospel.
\nAs in the Wednesday catecheses Benedict XVI is gradually recounting the life of the Church from the Apostles to the Fathers, so in the Sunday Angelus he is presenting to the faithful the figure of Jesus.
\nBut there’s more. The path that the pope takes to get to Jesus each week is the same one that every member of the Catholic faithful travels in participating at Mass that same Sunday.
\nThis is clearly a deliberate decision, and one typical of this pope’s vision. The Gospel upon which Benedict XVI comments at the Angelus is not “sola Scriptura,” it is not a bare book. It is the Word that becomes flesh \u2013 the body and blood of Jesus \u2013 in the liturgy of the day.
\nIn order to raise to acceptable levels the average quality of the millions of homilies pronounced every Sunday all over the world, Catholic priests could do no better than to enroll themselves in the school of Benedict XVI’s Angelus addresses.
\nHere follows a sample of this preaching: the last seven “little homilies” he has dedicated to the Gospel passage of that day’s Mass, Sunday by Sunday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re talking evangelization and preaching, so here are a few good examples for your edification of priests doing great preaching and making the fruits of their labors available on the Web:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPreach it - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preach it - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We’re talking evangelization and preaching, so here are a few good examples for your edification of priests doing great preaching and making the fruits of their labors available on the Web:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-10-08T20:42:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"awelborn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Preach it - Via Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Preach it - Via Media","og_description":"We’re talking evangelization and preaching, so here are a few good examples for your edification of priests doing great preaching and making the fruits of their labors available on the Web:","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html","og_site_name":"Via Media","article_published_time":"2007-10-08T20:42:13+00:00","author":"awelborn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html","name":"Preach it - Via Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-10-08T20:42:13+00:00","dateModified":"2007-10-08T20:42:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/preach-it.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Preach it"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/","name":"Via Media","description":"Amy Welborn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a","name":"awelborn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","caption":"awelborn"},"description":"Amy Welborn was born in 1960, the only child of a now-retired professor of political science, a teacher-librarian-artist mother,deceased since 2001, was a teacher, librarian and artist. The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}